PANAJI (GOA) Supreme Court today issued notice to Goa government in a freah application moved by Goa Foundation seeking reduction in annual iron ore production limit from existing 20 million tons to 12 million tons.
The notice is answerable in two weeks and the matter be placed on board for adjudication in the third week of November.
The IA was filed in Writ Petititon No.435/2012 (Goa Foundation v/s UOI & ors).The Goa Foundation has argued that instead of allowing an increase in the cap, it ought to be brought down to 12 million tonnes per annum since the mining companies are unable to conduct their operations within the framework of mining regulations and there has been no improvement in infrastructure since mining was shut down in 2012
The application has submitted that the existing cap on mining to the extent of 20 million tonnes per annum is an interim cap and can be varied upward or downwards, depending upon other conditions.
The application draws heavily on the environmental havoc and violation of human rights caused in Sonshi village in the wake of attempts to enhance production in the Sonshi mining cluster in the past mining season to artificially reach the cap figure of 20 million tonnes.
The application shows that the mining companies were able to exert influence on the Mines Department to re-allocate extra mining quotas for operating mines, by diverting the quotas from those mines that had not commenced operation. It was allowed by the Mines Department in order to show to the Court that the mining companies could reach the figure of 20 million tonnes and therefore, their plea to raise the production to 30 million tonnes, ought to be allowed. In order to achieve this objective, the mining lessees went into overdrive causing the environmental nightmare that completely covered the village of Sonshi.
The extra production was done without proper consent of the Pollution Control Board and without a prior approval for the mining plan.
The application also submits that none of the infrastructural improvements that the Goa government had promised to make on affidavits it had filed in Writ Petition No.435/2012 had been implemented.
No efforts had been made to take action against erring companies despite a severe indictment of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India relating to illegal mining and exports from the state of Goa.
. Five years have passed since then and the situation has remained the same.
Besides the IA, the Goa Foundation has also filed a contempt petition before the High Court against the Pollution Control Board in connection with the Sonshi environmental disaster. The contempt petition seeks action against the chairman of the Board and officials on the ground that they did not implement the directions specifically issued to the Board to monitor and take
